New TV service great news for couch potatoes

A futuristic service expected to transform the way people watch television has landed in Korea for the first time. KT Corp., the nation’s largest fixed-line operator, demonstrated Internet Protocol Television, or IP-TV, and launched a trial service yesterday at the media center of its headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul. The interactive television service will deliver video and digital media content to households with at least a high-bandwidth Internet connection. As demonstrated by KT employees, subscribers to the new service will have less reason than ever to move from the couch. They will be able to order and pay for pizzas, check e-mails, send short mobile messages, and even trade stocks via their televisions. Better still, none of this will interrupt television broadcasts. A spokesman from the telecom vendor explained that the multimedia contents delivered via the new service will have even higher resolution than digital cable television. The Internet-assisted televisions currently offer 40 channels but will eventually have 200. Asked when commercialization of the service would begin, Lee Sang-hoon, vice chief executive of KT, said, “Related regulations are expected to be lifted within the first six months of next year and the actual service will be launched no later than the second half.” KT was slated to launch the service next March but opposition from the Korean Broadcasting Commission delayed the plan. The government-controlled commission says that Internet television should be under the purview of broadcasting law while the Information Ministry contends the project should be controlled by communications law. The company has set aside about 300 billion won ($296 million) for the new service next year, forecasting 13 trillion won in revenue increases by 2012 and up to 70,000 new jobs. by Seo Ji-eun